Dec. 2-Jan. 3: If you want a soulful experience this holiday season, go to "Black Nativity" at Penumbra Theatre or the singing Steele family at the Fitzgerald Theater. For unfettered camp, check out Miss Richfield, 1981, at Illusion. And you could get a good dose of the meaning of the season from "A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater. But for pure, old-fashioned Americana, no holiday show beats the return of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" at the Ordway Center. Sure, it is dated, hailing from a time when the world seemed simpler and easier to navigate. Yet no matter how chilly things may seem, Berlin's music and this lush production -- which ends with snow falling from the theater -- will leave you with a warm feeling. (Dec. 2-Jan. 3, Ordway Center, 5th and Washington Sts., St. Paul. $30.50-$59.60. 651-224-4222, or www.ordway.org.)

• ROHAN PRESTON

ROSE ENSEMBLE

Dec. 18-23: 'Twas a time when the Christmas holiday had not yet been commercialized or sentimentalized. The Rose Ensemble's "And Glory Shone Around: An Early American Christmas" makes that time audible. Drawing from 19th-century songbooks, the concert mixes colonial carols, Appalachian folk songs, Shaker hymns, shape-note singing and the close harmonies from which bluegrass sprouted; accompanying instruments include a gut-strung gourd banjo. And in an inevitable concession to commerce, the program will be released on CD Dec. 1. (7:30 p.m. Dec. 18, Colonial Church of Edina, 6200 Colonial Way, Edina; 8 p.m. Dec. 20, Basilica of St. Mary, 16th St. and Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.; 2 p.m. Dec. 21, Church of the Nativity, 1900 Wellesley Av., St. Paul; 7 p.m. Dec. 23, Trinity Lutheran Church, 115 N. 4th St., Stillwater. $17-$35. 651-225-4340 or www.RoseEnsemble.org.)

• LARRY FUCHSBERG

MUSIC

Dec. 5: Two things you probably didn't know about Kenny G: The smooth-jazz soprano saxophonist is an original investor in Starbucks, and his "Miracles" is the bestselling Christmas CD of all time. Actually, he calls it a "holiday album." And after serving up "Miracles" in 1994, he has followed with two other Yule blockbusters, "Faith" (1999) and "Wishes" (2002), plus a compilation, "Greatest Holiday Classics" (2005). After canceling his December 2007 show at Mystic Lake Casino, the curly coiffed instrumental superstar is making good this year. (8 p.m. Dec. 5. $46-$59. Mystic Lake Casino, 2400 Mystic Lake Blvd., Prior Lake. 651-989-5151.)

• JON BREAM

THE BEST OF THE REST

POP/ROCK

NOVEMBER

26/ Ike Reilly's Thanksgiving Show and Eden House Fundraiser: With guests the Alarmists and Little Man, 8:30 p.m. $12-$15. First Avenue Mainroom, 7th St. and 1st Av. N., Mpls. 612-338-8388.